Ex-Saracens star David Flatman reveals what makes their winning machine so special ahead of Premiership final
STEAM-ROLLING Saracens are chasing a fifth Premiership title at Twickenham.
The Londoners are also looking to complete the Double Double - their second clean-sweep of European and Domestic crowns since their first in 2016.
But what makes Sarries so special?
SunSport Rugby Correspondent Jonny Fordham went to the pub with David Flatman, the former Sarries and England prop and ambassador, to try and find the answer.
I THINK the whole 'Something special is happening at Sarries' made quite a lot of us feel nauseous when it began.
Then it wouldn't go away and a lot of us cynically described it as being cultish.
When Brendan Venter took over it was almost like lads who hadn't been to church once in their life suddenly thanking God for each try they scored and it was like something spiritual was happening there.
Take their coach Al Sanderson, a great mate of mine and we played schoolboys rugby together, there is no other way to put it, the bloke was a high-functioning psychopath when I played with him.
The meanest hombre there was.
There was no one like Al - he was a pure animal.
Then he starts speaking gently and cerebrally and 'Something special is happening at Sarries.
And you think: "Oh no, they've infected Al - the world's hardest man!"
Mike Teague, Coochie - they would never had said this.
Then you start thinking it will pass, but after time, it starts working.
You would go down there to Sarries, know people who signed or stayed since the old days and I used to mock it a bit. But they believe it, take care of each other and love each other.
You go there with a TV camera and they let you turn off the camera, sit in meetings and you suddenly start thinking guilty about mocking it.
And then they batter you in a game. Again. And again. And again.
You realise it's not a weird cult, but a set of lads having the best time of their lives and loving life. There is some brilliant coaching going on there too.
I look at the Saracens team as the embodiment of what can happen with a talented group of rugby players when they are properly backed and looked after.
There is absolute confidence in that team.
Other clubs don't want that, though. Everyone wants to be a great bloke or a great women until there's pressure.
How much panic is there at Exeter Chiefs when they win six or seven games? So little that they go on and win the title.
How much panic is there when Sarries lose five, six or seven on the bounce in the middle of last season? There isn't any.
How much panic is there in Owen Farrell when England throw away a 30-odd point lead at Twickenham?
None. It'll be fine.
This is someone who has been given permission by his bosses at Saracens to be confident in himself at club and country.
Sarries will cock stuff up, but how many other clubs can say from chairman, owner, board director of rugby, head coach that treating them all really well is their No1 priority?
They can't, because when it is your money evidence suggests it is difficult to concentrate on the bigger picture and think long term. It is about this season, this week. Saracens took an opposite view.
Every player that has gone there have got better or lasted longer than anyone ever though. How has Schalk Burger lasted that long? It's outrageous. He is not a freak, he is a driven bloke and he is properly taken care of.
How are they managing Joel Kpoku? Not many know him - we know him - and this bloke is a rockstar.
He could start the Champions Cup final and get man of the match.
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He can be as good as Maro Itoje and Maro is world-class.
They manage their players. Most guys will be thinking about leaving if they don't get first-choice.
People just don't want to leave Sarries because all of this and that is what makes them so great.
